For 9/11, Creating a Collective Memory

Visitors to Bryant Park this weekend will encounter a lawn beautifully arrayed with 2,753 chairs, all empty, placed in remembrance of the 2,753 lives lost in the attack on the World Trade Center. On the elevated piazza to the east of the lawn, from 12:30 to 2:30 P.M. Saturday and Sunday, a pool of typists will sit facing the library, ready to record responses to the question “What would you like the world to remember about 9/11?”

The typing pool, part of a public-art project created by Sheryl Oring under the title “Collective Memory,” was up and running this afternoon when I stopped by. The typists sat a tables draped in white, each in front of an antique black typewriter and a long-stemmed red rose in a vase. They were busy: a few had individuals in front of them, speaking quietly; a few had groups of friends. I asked one of the typists what would become of the responses, and she told me that they would be collected on the park’s Flickr page, and would later be printed out and become part of a travelling exhibition. Several have already been uploaded (including the one shown above), and they are worth reading through. If you’d like to visit the park this weekend to participate, more information can be found at DNA Info, and on Sheryl Oring’s Web site, iwishtosay.org.